Life Goes On
by CrazyHayniac
Summary: After the end of Season 3, life goes on for Cleo, Emma, Rikki, and Bella. They have just a few months of summer before they start college for their higher education. A lot can happen in just a few short months, things are resolved, new people show up, and challenges are faced. My take on what happens after Graduation. On hiatus.
1. Chapter 1: After Graduation

**A/N- So when I first wrote this I didn't know that the Australia and American school breaks were so different so this is going to be a little off as I thought there were 3 months for summer vacation and planned around that. Please don't hate me.**

 **3rd person P.O.V.**

Emma knew that she was definitely _not_ going to make it back in time for graduation. She really hoped that they would be at the new cafe she heard had opened where the JuiceNet cafe had once been. If they weren't there, she had a good feeling that they would be over at Cleo's house.

CHCHCH

It was the end of the night after graduation and Rikki, Cleo, Lewis, Bella, and Will had decided to stay and help Zane clean up the cafe despite their differences. It did take a little convincing on Bella and Cleo's parts to get Rikki to stay and help them but in the end they got her to stay and help. Most everything was now picked up so Bella and Will were up by the stage talking quietly to one another for the time being while the group stood around talking. The others,minus Zane, were standing by the counter when someone walked in. Bella and Will glanced over at the girl who had walked in. Will dismissed her immediately but something about her and the way she held herself seemed strangely familiar to Bella. Cleo, Lewis, and Rikki seemed to know her because they each gave her a hug and started talking to one another.

"Any idea who that is?" Will asked, looking at Bella and bringing her out of her thoughts.

"No, I've only been here as long as you but she seems familiar kinda like..." Bella began to trail off because her next words seemed ridiculous to her, even in her mind. It was then that she heard Cleo say, "Emma, it's so good to see you again, we really missed you."

A disbelieving look crossed Bella's face when Cleo said 'Emma'. It couldn't be.

"What's the matter Bella, is something wrong?" Will asked, seeing the expression displayed on Bella's face.

Emma chose that moment to look over at Bella and Will, having heard the two of them talking. She did a double take and before Cleo got the chance to try and explain anything, Emma whispered, "Bella?"

"Emma."

"It really is you, I haven't seen you since we were like 10. It's so good to see you," Emma said, walking over to Bella to give her a hug, they met halfway between the stage and counter.

"It's good to see you too," Bella said to Emma. Cleo, Rikki, and Lewis looked over at the two blond girls in confusion. How did they know each other? Will watched his girlfriend and the other girl she knew with even more confusion than all the others. Who was this Emma girl? Bella and Emma were oblivious to the confusion of everyone in the room with them as they updated each other on their lives over the last approximately eight years; of course, they both left off on the details of having tails.

After letting Bella and Emma talk for a little while, Rikki asked, "Okay, so how in the world do you two know each other?"

"I'll explain," Bella said putting up her hand to silence Emma who already had her mouth half open to explain. "Now I know you guys have already met but I'd like you to met my cousin, Emma."

Cleo, Rikki, and Lewis were shocked, two of their best friends were cousins. When the shock wore off, they all came to the realization that neither Emma nor Bell knew about the other being a mermaid.

Will slowly started over towards Cleo and Rikki. He suspected that Emma knew something about them being mermaids but didn't want to say anything himself. Whispering to them he asked "Does Emma know about, you know, your tails?"

"Yeah, why?" Cleo responded.

"Just wondering," he shrugged.

"Sorry to interrupt this little family reunion but we have something to explain to both of you," Rikki started. Emma and Bella turned towards her, she looked over to Cleo to explain the rest.

Cleo took a minute to gather her thoughts before speaking, "Both of you guys know about us being mermaids," she spoke bluntly. Emma and Bella looked at each other and smiled slightly and nervously, not wanting to tell the other that they have a tail, at least not yet without knowing how the other would take it. "Anyway there's something. . . big you guys should know about each other."

"What?" they asked at the same time. They laughed before falling silent to consider Cleo's statement.

"Wait, you don't mean Emma's a. . . do you?" Bella said as her voice trailed off as she avoided saying the actual word out loud.

"And you're a. . . too?" Emma asked, directing this towards Bella, not saying the actual word out loud herself either.

"Oh for goodness sake, do I need to shove the both of you off the end of the dock?!" Rikki exclaimed, somewhat annoyed at the vagueness of the two.

"No, I don't think that'll be necessary anymore." Emma replied.

"Good, because the water's cold and I wouldn't steam dry you guys back to the state you're in right now."

"It all makes sense now," Bella started. "That's why you quit the swim team, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I really couldn't swim in competitions with a tail."

"I always wondered why you stopped competing when mom told me a few years ago, you were so good. It all makes sense now though. I wish I would have thought of that as a reason for why you stopped competing but I was so used to avoiding water by then that it never even crossed my mind."

"When exactly did you change?" Emma asked, "And who's this?" she added as an after thought. "I'd assume he knows..." she trailed off.

"Well, I became a mermaid when I was nine. And yeah, he knows. This is Will, my boyfriend." Bella replied, motioning for Will to come and join the rest of the group.

"Hi," Will greeted Emma shyly.

"Oh, come on now Will, no need to suddenly get shy." Bella spoke teasingly.

"Nice to met you Will," Emma said, reaching out to shake his hand, he took her hand in a short and friendly handshake.

As the group of six all started talking together, Zane entered the main portion of the cafe from his office. He had some paperwork in his hands and wasn't paying all that much attention to what was going on around him. He only looked up when he heard someone say, "Hey Zane."

"Oh, hey Em," he replied offhandedly not taking note of his words as he set the papers down. "Wait, Emma. When did you get back?" he asked, suddenly taking note of her presence in the cafe.

"Just about an hour ago. I see you must own the place, considering the name."

"Yeah but, um..." Zane tried to find the words to explain.

"We're not together anymore," Rikki finished. Zane nodded his thanks to Rikki.

"Oh." Emma paused, trying to think of a way to change the subject as an air of awkwardness filled the room. "Hey, why don't we met up sometime tomorrow, maybe at the moon pool," Emma suggested a minute later.

"The moon pool's actually in bad shape right now, we're not even sure if it's stable," Cleo explained.

"Really, what happened to it?" Emma asked, sounding disappointed.

"Well, lets see, one- Zane, two- Will's sister, three- this guy that works for Sam," Rikki said, listing off the three reasons for the moon pool being destroyed.

"Rikki, Emma doesn't know who Sam is yet," Cleo scolded. "Why don't we go to my house now so can talk," she suggested. Everyone seemed to agree and soon they were on their way out.

"Bye Zane," everyone said heading out the door, Rikki mumbling it to him as she was still mad at him for kissing Sophie and destroying the moon pool.

CHCHCH

As they walked to Cleo's house Bella took Will's hand in her's, letting their fingers intertwine. Lewis took hold of Cleo's hand as a reassurance that he really was there with her.

"So Bella, who is Sam anyway? Nobody really explained who he or she was at the cafe," Emma spoke, whispering to her cousin.

"Oh right, she's Cleo's step-mom."

"Really? Cleo's dad remarried?" Emma spoke questioningly.

"Yup."

"I feel like I missed so much in the year that I was away."

"I missed a lot before we moved here so it's okay, we'll bring you up to date on everything."

Emma nodded in response.

Once they reached Cleo's house everyone slipped in as silently as six people can at nine at night. Cleo's parents were sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Oh, Cleo, you're home," her dad said, pausing as he saw everyone that had entered his house. "And it seems that you've brought all your friends."

"Yeah. We were just going to go upstairs and catch up because Emma and Lewis just got back," she said motioning to the two.

"Okay then, but everyone who doesn't live here has to be out by eleven," Mr. Sertori spoke very clearly. Everyone knew they would definitely need to be out of his house by eleven.

The group of six headed up to Cleo's room. Kim, who was moping in her room because she had been grounded, wondered what the commotion was and stuck her head out the door to her room.

"You've brought everyone here. Why can't you go somewhere else? Why do you always come here?" Kim groaned.

"Because we do, Kim," Cleo said, in an annoyed tone.

"And thanks for noticing that I'm back, Kim." Emma said, putting in a slight undertone. Cleo closed the door behind her as she entered her room.

Everyone sat themselves in random spots around the room. Emma took a seat on the end of Cleo's bed and Rikki, feeling like acting like a loon, sat down cross legged on the floor and looked up at Emma expectantly.

"Rikki, what on earth are you doing?" Emma asked in confusion.

"I thought it was story time and this is what you do for story time, right?"

"Rikki, do you have to make Emma think you have gone completely insane in the past year?" Cleo asked.

"Aw, c'mon I was just having a little fun," she said taking a seat next to Emma on Cleo's bed. She conveniently didn't notice Cleo and Bella rolling their eyes.

"So how was your trip around the world, Emma?" Lewis asked.

"It was amazing, although at times it was really hard to keep my parents and Elliot from figuring out about my tail."

"Where all did you guys go? I might know some of the places," Bella asked.

"Well some of the most recognizable places that we went where Paris, Italy, California in the States, and Spain. We were on the coast except for in Paris."

"That must've stunk," Rikki said.

"Trust me it did. I couldn't just jump in the water if I ended up getting wet, I actually had to find somewhere to hide," Emma explained. "That was definitely the hardest part, getting away when I got wet."

For the next hour and a half or so Emma caught everyone up on some of the stuff she had gone through in the past year. Then Cleo, Rikki, and Bella, along with Will and Lewis occasionally, told her everything that had happened there in the past year since she had left. They explained how the water tentacle had attacked them and how they first thought it was against them before realizing that it was on their side.

"Hey Em, did you hear much from Ash while you were traveling?" Cleo asked.

"We talked a little bit by way of chat and e-mail. We video chatted a few times when my parents were out; but I somehow managed to forget to tell him I was coming back today."

"Did your parents know you were video chatting with your boyfriend?" Rikki questioned.

"Well no, not exactly. Don't tell them, I'm sure I'd be in trouble."

"Oh. My. Goodness. Em, you disobeyed your parents, how... unlike you, I guess I must have rubbed off on you in the past few years." Rikki said proudly.

"No, I just - forget it."

"Well, it's quarter to eleven, you guys should probably get heading home now," Cleo said, interrupting the two.

"Yeah, I guess we should all get going home, I'm not sure my parents were planning on us being out this late, Will."

"Well come on then," he said taking her hand and leading her out of Cleo's room. Everyone followed, except Lewis, who wanted to take longer saying goodbye to Cleo.

"Lewis, aren't you going to get heading out with everyone else?"

"What, you don't want me to stay?" he spoke, wrapping his arms around her to pull her in for a kiss.

"I never said that," Cleo paused. "I do have to admit that I didn't mind the kiss. but you need to get home so I'll see you in the morning."

"Bye," he said giving her one last kiss before walking down the hall and leaving the house.

CHCHCH

Bella and Will left Cleo's house and started towards Bella's. Will noticed that Bella was shivering from the cold night air so he pulled her close to his side to keep her warm.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"I love you," Bella spoke a few seconds later.

"I love you too," Will replied.

There were a few more seconds of silence before Bella slowly spoke again, "You know, I kind of thought you wouldn't want to have anything to do with me after you found out I was a mermaid."

"Why?"

"I mean, mermaids are, we're things of mythology and who really actually wants to date a mermaid in real life?"

"The kind of guy who's not stupid and shallow. I love you for you. I'd love you if you weren't a mermaid, and I love you being a mermaid. Nothing can change how I feel about you."

Bella smiled up at Will and leaned her head up against him. The rest of their walk back to Bella's house was relatively quiet as they just enjoyed each other's company. When they reached her house, they stood outside her front door for a minute just listening to the silence that the night offered and the other quiet sounds of the night.

"Well I don't think my parents are awake at the moment, I guess I'll have to be really quiet," Bella said, turning away from Will to unlock the door as quietly as is humanly possible. After opening the door, Bella turned back to Will and they shared a quick goodnight kiss.

"I wonder if that shy guy will ever come back."

"I don't think he will, not as long as I have you," Will spoke softly. He gave Bella a quick peck on the cheek before turning towards the street.

"'Night Bella."

"See you tomorrow."

"Love you."

"Love you too." Bella closed the door silently and leaned back on it. She let out a content sigh; she had finished high school, has amazing friends, an amazing boyfriend, and life seemed to be working out perfectly for her.

CHCHCH

On his way back to his boat shed, Will thought about how well everything was going between him and Bella. He never expected a first relationship to be this great and it amazed him every time he thought about it.

He also thought about some of the events of the day. At graduation, Sophie had told him and Bella that she was happy for them and Lewis had returned from the states. Not only that, but at the cafe he met another mermaid, Bella's cousin who also happened to be a mermaid. With four mermaids in town, things were bound to get interesting.

CHCHCH

Rikki walked home in silence. She didn't believe that all the magic could be gone from the moon pool. It was a special place for mermaids and nobody could really take it away from her. She was planning to to go out to the moon pool in the morning so she could try and figure out how to fix it. She knew the others wouldn't really approved of her going out there so she wasn't telling them about her plan, or at least not yet.

CHCHCH

Emma was excited to be back after being gone for so long. Some might have thought that her best friends now being best friends with her cousin would set her on edge and have her worried but it really had the opposite affect on her. She didn't have to worry about Bella stealing her friends or anything like that because they'd been friends since nearly birth. Now they shared best friends and a secret, that would only make them closer.

Another thing of excitement for Emma was that she'd finally be able to see Ash in person again after almost a year of not seeing each other. She planned to text him later and let him know that she was back.

Upon arrival on her street, she could see the moving truck in the driveway that held all the stuff that belonged to her and her family. While they had been gone a family had rented their house, meaning that they had to put everything that they couldn't take with them in a storage locker. Her parents had asked some of her uncles on her dad's side to get their stuff taken out of the locker and back to their house for when they got home.

As she got closer to the house, Emma noticed that there were still some lights on. She figured everyone would have gone to bed by now. "Mum, dad, what are you still doing up?" Emma asked when she walked inside.

"Just trying to see what we could get out for the night. We can't get to anybody's beds so we have to use these air mattresses. Your's is up in your room all set up for you," Emma's dad, Neil, explained.

"Okay, thanks." Emma replied as she headed up to her old room, telling her parents goodnight before she left. Her room was exactly as she had left it with plain walls that would need everything put back up on them within the next few days.

Emma turned her attention down to the air mattress that would function as her bed for the night. It already had her pillow and a few sheets and blankets on it. After changing into her pjs, she quickly sent a text to Ash to let him know she was back home. Emma sat her phone down next to her bed and was asleep a few minutes later.

 **A/N not all the chapters are going to end up being that long, I think. There might be some but most will probably be shorter. Except the first few might be long because I really did no planning for separation when I first wrote this.**

 **Let me know what you think. If I you like it, let me know and I'll continue with it. I have a plan in my mind for this summer then a fast-forward through college and life after college for the gang. So tell me what you think I should do, constructive criticism is highly appreciated so I know what to do to improve and get better. Thanks for reading, peace out.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Moon Pool

**3rd Person P.O.V.**

8 A.M. wasn't really the time Rikki wanted to get up at on the day after she graduated high school, yet, it was in fact the time she was getting up. Since she no longer had to hurry off to school until she started college she should have been sleeping in until noon but she wanted to get out to Mako. She quickly got up, got dressed, and ate breakfast on her own before heading out. Rikki walked out the back door, keeping quiet as her dad was still asleep. A small dock had recently been put up behind her house so after checking that no one was around, Rikki ran down it and dove into the water before speeding off to Mako.

The water would have sent a chill down the spine of any normal person, but, being a mermaid, Rikki was almost immune to the cold, though she could somehow sense the cold without being affected by it. Though the chill didn't bother her, speeding off to Mako was still much more efficient at waking her up than coffee ever was.

In a matter of minutes, Rikki arrived at Mako. She surfaced and took a look around. What she saw surprised her. Where she had expected to see broken rocks and rubble all around, there were instead walls that looked like they had never been touched. The moon pool looked exactly the same as it did before Sophie had found out about it and destroyed it with explosives. Somehow, the moon pool had repaired itself and made it as if nothing had ever happened to it. Rikki couldn't wait to tell the others about her finding.

CHCHCH

The morning after her return to the Gold Coast, Emma woke to the sun streaming down on her face. It took her a few minutes to get used to the feeling since all the hotels she had stayed in within the last year had curtains that were drawn when she woke up in the morning. It took her a couple minutes to be able to function. When Emma could think clearly, she turned her phone on to see if she had any texts she'd missed after turning it off the night before.

As it turned out, while Emma was sleeping, she had gotten a text from Ash. In the text he had said that he was glad she was back home and he hoped that they could hang out soon since he was off all day. Emma checked the time and calculated how long she'd need to get ready and have breakfast before texting Ash back to let him know that he could come over any time after eleven.

Emma soon got out of bed and headed downstairs for breakfast. As she headed down the stairs, her phone beeped, signaling that Ash had texted back saying that he would be over around eleven. In the kitchen, Emma found her mother preparing some yogurt for breakfast.

"Morning, dear," Mrs. Gilbert greeted her daughter. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"All right, I guess. I was pretty tired when I got home so it wasn't that hard to fall asleep."

"Did you end up finding Cleo and Rikki?"

"Yeah. And I saw someone else we know," Emma added suddenly, a smile forming on her face.

"Lewis?" Mrs. Gilbert guessed, dishing some yogurt out into a bowl for Emma.

"Well, yeah, I saw him too but I also saw Bella. Bella as in my cousin Bella. She's friends with Cleo and Rikki."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I guess they moved here right before school started."

"I wonder why Jennette didn't let me know. . ." Mrs. Gilbert trailed off. "I'll have to call her up sometime later today. We should invite them over for dinner after we get the house back together."

"Sounds great," Emma spoke, going to pick her breakfast up off the counter. "And Ash is coming over around eleven, I hope it's okay."

"We just got back, dear."

"He can help move everything in."

"Okay," Mrs. Gilbert agreed, turning to take care of the dishes she had used to make breakfast that morning.

"Thanks, mum," Emma spoke, sitting down to eat the yogurt.

CHCHCH

Bella and Cleo were just waking up when they heard their phones going off telling them each that they had a text from Rikki. In the text, Rikki told everyone to meet her at Mako, specifically in the moon pool, at eleven. After texting Rikki back to let her know that they would be there, Bella and Cleo got up to get ready for the day.

CHCHCH

Emma had just finished her breakfast when her phone buzzed on the counter; she read the text that Rikki had also sent to Bella and Cleo. She sighed when she saw that Rikki wanted them to be at the moon pool at eleven since Ash was planning on being over then. She first sent Ash a text to let him know there had been a change of plan and it would be a little while longer before he could come over. He was perfectly fine with it, especially knowing that it had to do with the girls and the secret. Emma was then able to let Rikki know she would be there.

"Mum," Emma spoke, breaking the silence that had settled in the room since Emma began to eat.

"What is it, darling," Mrs. Gilbert turned to her daughter.

"I just got a text from Rikki and she needs us to all meet up quick."

"Okay, go ahead. Just try to make it quick so we can get everything unpacked, all right?"

"All right," Emma agreed. "We shouldn't be too long."

"Then have fun and be safe."

"We will." Emma got up and placed her bowl next to the sink before hurrying up to her room to get dressed and ready to meet the girls. She was finished with plenty of time to spare. Emma used this extra time to enjoy a leisurely swim.

Emma made her way slowly over the coral reefs she hadn't seen in a year. It was amazing to be back and she felt at home in the water here, more so than she ever did when she snuck off for a late night swim while traveling the world. During her swim, Emma ran into Bella and Cleo who were also taking their sweet time getting to Mako. After capturing the attention of her two friends, Emma held up three fingers and counted down, signaling for them to race the rest of the way to the moon pool. The three girls took off at incredible speeds. Cleo was right on Emma's tail with Bella trailing just a little way behind them. Emma was the first to surface and was quick to boast when the other two surfaced beside her.

"Oh well," Cleo shrugged, unaffected by her loss. "So, what's up?" she asked, turning to Rikki who stood outside the moon pool at the edge of the water.

"Look around," Rikki said, motioning to the cavern around them.

The three in the pool looked up and around, Bella and Cleo instantly knew what Rikki meant. Emma didn't quite understand what was going on but noticed some changes that had happened to the cavern. "Where did the waterfall come from?"

"No idea," Cleo spoke, shrugging her shoulders. "It just showed up there the first full moon Bella was here when we all found out about each other." Cleo paused, "It had been all destroyed and in ruins. Now it's, fine," Cleo had a puzzled look on her face.

There were a few moments of silence before Bella spoke, looking up to Rikki she asked, "What do you think happened?"

Rikki walked a few paces, looking at the walls, "I guess the magic wasn't really gone and it fixed itself."

For several more minutes following, the quartet was silent, each at a loss in her own thoughts. Looking back up at Rikki, Emma was reminded of how neither she nor Cleo was wearing their lockets the night before. Instead they wore crystal necklaces that matched the one Bella had. "What happened to the lockets?" she asked suddenly, looking to Rikki and Cleo for an explanation.

"Um," Rikki started, not exactly sure of what to say. "Well, the crystals helped us figure out what was going on with the comet that came by a few days ago," she spoke slowly.

"The one I already had helped us figure out that we needed more," Bella continued. "We needed all three so Will made the crystals we found here into necklaces like mine for Cleo and Rikki. If you want one I'm sure they are more crystals in here."

"But what about the lockets?" Emma persisted.

"There's only three of those," Cleo began. "Will can make another crystal necklace fairly easily."

"I guess that makes sense," Emma said slowly.

"And we can each keep the lockets for safe-keeping," Rikki added. "They belonged to the original three mermaids, we can't get rid of them."

"So we'll still have them, we just won't wear them all the time because we'll all have matching crystal necklaces," Emma summarized.

"Yeah," Rikki agreed, reaching behind her neck to take her necklace off.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked.

"You'll see," Rikki replied, holding the necklace up to the cavern wall. Her necklace made a sudden movement towards the wall; pulling her necklace away, Rikki held out her other hand and curled it into a fist until a small crystal nearly identical to the others was revealed. Rikki reached out and carefully pulled it from the wall. "Here we are," Rikki said, holding the crystal out.

"I can't take it now," Bella spoke.

Rikki put the stone in her pocket.

"Race you back?" Emma asked.

"Wait for me," Rikki said as the others sunk below the surface of the water and took off. She lost the race back to the mainland, but the others were still there, waiting to be dried off. Rikki first dried herself then the others. She handed the crystal to Bella and they all headed off in their separate directions.

CHCHCH

After getting the crystal from Rikki, Bella headed over towards Will's boatshed in hopes that he'd be able to get the necklace for Emma done soon. She didn't want Emma to end up feeling left out because they all had the crystal necklaces and she only had the locket.

Bella walked up to his door and tapped her knuckles on the old wood. "Just a sec," came Will's reply from inside. Bella could hear him moving around inside as he made his way to the door. After opening the door and seeing Bella, his face lit up in a smile. "Hey," he spoke, moving out of the way to let her in. "What's up?" he asked as she sat down on his bed.

"We went to Mako this morning and it was all fixed. We found this crystal and I was hopping you'd make another necklace like mine for Em."

"Yeah, sure," Will agreed.

"Great." Bella stood up, took the crystal out of her pocket, and handed it to Will.

"It's practically identical to the others."

"Yeah," Bella agreed.

"If I get to work on it now, I think I could have it done by the end of the day." Will paused, "What else is up, you said the moon pool was fixed."

"Yeah. There must have been enough magic left in it for it to repair itself while we were away."

"Cool."

"Yeah," Bella agreed. "So you think if I left you on your own for the rest of the day, you'd have it done by the end of the day?"

"Guaranteed."

"Okay, then I'll leave you to it," Bella said, standing up and making her way to the door. Will caught her before she could leave.

"You think you can get away that easily?" Will joked.

Bella didn't reply with words but stood on her tip-toes to give Will a quick kiss. "Thanks for doing this for Em."

"Of course. I'll catch you later, Bels."

"Bye, Will."

CHCHCH

When Emma returned home, she called Ash to let him know that she was back and he could come over at any time. He'd be over in a little while so while Emma waited, she went and made herself some lunch seeing as how it was already half past noon.

Just as Emma was taking care of her plate from lunch, there was a knock on the front door. Emma raced to the door and greeted Ash by jumping into his arms and placing a firm kiss on his lips.

"Hello to you too," Ash laughed when they separated. "How was your trip?" he asked, entering the house.

"It was good, a great learning experience to be able to experience all the different cultures. I missed Cleo and Rikki like crazy which made full moons even worse than normal. I managed to get moonstruck a few times."

"Everything was fine in the morning though?"

"Yeah, though I still have no idea what I did. But enough about me, what have you been up to?"

"College, helping out at the ranch, training so that hopefully I can take over someday. But from the look of all the boxes around the house, you could use some help unpacking. Why don't we take care of your stuff first."

"Okay," Emma agreed. "Let's get my room back together."

"Lead the way," Ash said, following Emma up the stairs.

In Emma's room, multiple boxes were laid out all over the floor that had been put there while she was at Mako. Her bed had also been returned to its rightful position in her room. Ash and Emma got to work putting everything back in its place for about an hour and a half. Ash made sure that he followed all of Emma's instructions exactly as to where to put her things.

Once everything in Emma's room was taken care of, the couple when back to the main level of the house to see what else they could help with. They ended up bringing several boxes of dishes in along with the couches that were still in the moving trucks. "Time for a break," Ash spoke, laying down on one of the couches he had just helped bring in.

"Feet off the couch," Emma joked to Ash in an almost motherly voice, picking his legs up and moving them off. "No shoes allowed on the couch anyway."

"Sorry, mum," he joked in reply, leaving the two laughing for a few minutes before they fell into a comfortable silence. They later talked a bit more about what they had done since the last time they saw each other. After their half hour break, Ash and Emma helped get everything else off the moving truck and were soon free to go.

"What do you say we head over to Rikki's café?" Emma asked. "The others are probably over there already."

"Okay. I had heard that the café was under new ownership but hadn't been able to get over there and see it yet."

"Zane owns it now."

"Ahh."

"So how was college this past year? I mean, you've already been through two years of it," Emma said as they began to walk towards the café.

"It's been good. I went it blind for my roommate again this year and I think he was a little off his rocker if you know what I mean. This year I'm getting an apartment close to campus. But my classes have been good, my grades are good and that's pretty much it,"

"I'm glad that everything's going well," Emma spoke while intertwining her fingers with Ash's. "We never were able to get much across over texts and e-mail."

"Yeah," Ash agreed, laughing lightly.

"Well, here we are," Emma said when she and Ash got close to the entrance of the café.

"Wow, Zane really changed the place up," Ash commented when they entered the building.

"Yeah. Want to go sit by Cleo and Lewis for a bit?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Hey Em, Ash," Cleo greeted. "Haven't seen you around much lately."

"I had a lot to do for school and with my studies," Ash explained his absence.

"I hear you, mate," Lewis said. For the next several minutes, the group sat in silence until a certain red-headed waitress came over to their table to take their orders.

"What would you all like to drink?" Sophie asked. Her voice dragging in a way that made her sound bored. She wasn't enjoying her job much anymore now that she and Zane had disagreed about her recent stunt. She took their orders and huffed away to go prepare the drinks.

"She seemed nice," Emma commented sarcastically.

"That was Will's sister, Sophie," Cleo explained.

"Really? How can she be related to Will, he's so nice?"

"That," Lewis started, "is something that remains a mystery to us all," he finished, laughing.

Ash looked around at the others, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Who's Will?" he asked, hoping he wouldn't sound ridiculous for asking that question.

"Oh. Will's dating my cousin, Bella who moved here after I left."

"Okay," Ash nodded, understanding a little better than he did before.

"And you should know that Bella's also a mermaid," Emma dropped her voice to explain. "Will knows about us all so I figured you should know too."

Ash nodded and Sophie came over to their table to drop their drinks off. "Here you are, enjoy," she said, setting the drinks down and walking off just as Bella and Will entered.

CHCHCH

After Bella left Will with the crystal to make a necklace, she had gone home so he could work diligently on it. He was so focused on making the necklace that he had it done in just two hours. He called Bella to let her know she could come and get it. Instead of just going to get the necklace, the two had gone swimming together for a little while before returning and heading over to the café.

Bella immediately spotted her friends in the corner booth when she and Will entered. She made her way over to Emma, pulling the necklace from her pocket and smiling as she handed it to Emma. "Will got it done a lot quicker than any of us had really planned on, so here it is."

Emma smiled at Bella before turning to Will. "Thank-you, Will," she said, meeting his eyes. Emma turned to Ash and asked him to help her get the necklace on.

"'course," he replied.

When Emma looked back to Bella and Will, they both had confused looks in their faces, obviously wondering who was sitting next to her. "Bella, Will, this is my boyfriend Ash, Ash, Bella and Will," Emma spoke.

"Nice to meet you," Will and Bella spoke, shaking Ash's hand.

"Likewise," he replied.

From the stage, Nate motioned for Bella to join him and the others. "I've got to go warm up with the band. It was nice to meet you, Ash. I look forward to getting to know you more and catch up with Emma in the very near future but the band really can't do anything without me." Bella turned and gave Will a quick peck on the lips before making her way to the stage.

While the band warmed up, Cleo and Lewis left, leaving Will alone with Emma and Ash, thankfully, they were getting along. When Bella finished her warming up, she went back to the table to join the others where they sat, talking, eating, telling jokes, and laughing until it was time for Bella to perform. Rikki entered and went to the counter right as Bella was making her way to the stage.

Around nine, the band finished their performance. They stuck around to take care of their stuff and help Zane finish packing everything away for the night. Ash and Will walked their respective girlfriends home and kissed them goodnight on their doorsteps before returning to their own homes.

Bella had hardly been home that day, only for the couple hours while Will was making the necklace in the morning. When she entered, she found her parents sitting in the living room with her little brother, Dustin, who had yet to turn one, laying in the playpen asleep. There were about seventeen years between the two, with twenty years between Dustin and Bella's older brother, Aaron.

"Hey, honey," Bella's mum greeted her. "You'll never guess who called today?"

"Who?" she asked, starting over towards Dustin, she loved watching her little brother sleep.

"Your Aunt Lisa. Did you remember that your Aunt Lisa and Uncle Neil lived around here?"

"Em's parents?"

"Yes. They also have a son, Elliot."

"Right. I ran into Emma yesterday and saw her again today. She's friends with Cleo and Rikki."

"That's nice, now you two will be able to hang out and see each other again. You were best friends when you were little before we started moving around. Anyway, they wanted us to come over for dinner on Saturday. Lisa said that she was going to let Emma have her boyfriend over and she wouldn't mind if Will came along with us.

"Okay. I'll let Will know he's invited tomorrow. He and Ash met and seemed to be getting along, but I'm getting tired so I'm going to get to bed, it's been a long day."

"Would you mind taking Dustin upstairs with you? He shouldn't wake so you just need to put him in his crib."

"No problem." Bella reached down and carefully picked up her baby brother, making sure she didn't wake him. She gently lay him down in his crib and covered him with blankets before she went to her own room and got ready for bed herself.

 **A/N: First off, I'd like to say I'm sorry for taking so long to update this. There was a lot of editing and really rapid changing of P.O.V. that I had to edit out to 3rd person. Next, I'd like to thank everyone who did review, favorite, and follow it, it's an inspiration to know that it's not just my family and friends who like the stuff I write.**

 **So I hope this was worth the wait. Leave a review or PM me to let me know what you think and how I can improve on my writing because writing is what I want to do with the rest of my life. If you have any constructive criticism, that would be great or anything I'm doing that you like, it'd be great to know either. Thanks for reading.**


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